The Adventures of a Christian Mom, Grandma and cancer surviver!

I suppose I should start out this post with: Taa-Daah! I’m feeling extra happy that John’s afghan is FINALLY finished! When looking it over, I’m not exactly happy it didn’t come out exactly a perfect rectangle, but it will serve the purpose of keeping him warm, so I guess I’ll just have to accept that. In the photo the colors came out really garish – in reality the reds in the middle of the afghan are a bit more cherry/lipstick red, and the border is actually a darker red (in the photo it comes off as almost a purple-red – it’s not. Now it is long enough, heavy enough and wide enough to cover him and that’s all I cared about. The chemo caps were knit a few weeks ago (pre-afghan) but I never got the photo transferred to a post, so decided to toss it in here. Next up on my knitting agenda? Another chemo cap and maybe a dishcloth – nothing big for awhile. Tonight’s Knit Night and I’m looking forward to the relaxation. Lately we’ve been picking up a new member each meeting and that’s good. In 2 weeks we’ll be having a Knit/Crochet MOVIE night-we haven’t done that since last winter so it’s overdue. The movie this time is “The Help” (I read the book – it’s really good) and the food theme is “Baked Potatoes” with everything on them (depending on what the ladies bring for toppers; I’m bringing the baked potatoes).

It’s a very nice day out – sunny and 47 degrees! My husband read the weather report for this week for us and it’s going to be lots of sun and warmer days – YAY!!! Just seeing the sun through my windows puts me in a great mood – how about you?

Well, I heard on the radio last night that this Sunday is the Super Bowl (can you tell I don’t keep up with sports?). That usually brings a nice big batch of recipes with lots of appetizers. Not sure if this current ‘batch’ of posted recipes will fit that bill, but you decide:

Today found me driving to Kohl’s for the end-of-winter savings event and I made great use of it. A few weeks ago I managed to snap my 18 K gold 24 inch chain which I always wear (put it over a turtle neck, then when I took it off, forgot it was there and – snap!). I’ve been searching for two weeks for a nice, plain gold 24 inch chain and thought I’d give Kohl’s a try; yes, they had them (buy 1-get 1 half off). I chatted with the sales lady and said that I really didn’t need the ‘ get 1 half off’, so she said she’d give me the chain for 1/2 off (YES!). Continued shopping – I had a $35 gift card plus $4.19 left over on another gift card PLUS a 20% off all purchases ‘just for today’s date’. I found a really nice black sweater (normally $75!), it was in the marked downs, and a pair of earrings (ones I’d almost bought last time I went there – decided today’s the day to buy them). When the sales lady got done ringing up all the purchases and using all the gift cards/extra coupon – she said: “That will be $60 put on your Kohl’s charge card.” Now, I’m usually the person who waits until they get home to check things over, but this Kohl’s is a good 1/2 hour drive and what she said just didn’t make sense, so I spoke up. Turns out – after much checking – she forgot to give me the necklace at 1/2 off, the sweater was not only on mark down but also on their ‘early bird special’ (I guess their computers weren’t registering all the items for the early bird thing’) AND the earrings were also early bird – grand total when we got all done ‘adjusting numbers’: I saved $127.85 (only charged $23.85!). Proceeded to KMart (needed a new ironing board cover) – sort of did the same thing there: I had seen a nice, warm grey hoodie at Kohl’s ON SALE for $49, marked down to $21 (for youngest son) but said to myself: “He’s SO fussy – if he doesn’t like it I’ll have to drive all the way back here -forget it”. Turns out KMart had the very same one – on sale PLUS a “Take 50% off any Fall/Winter wear” – got the hoodie for $7.99!!! Also picked up two nice women’s tops (normally $18.99) for $5 each! CHA-CHING! To quote a ’60’s expression: Feelin’ Groovy!”

Last night was my special need’s group’s Gym Night – we did something different: one of our Mom’s works at a senior citizen’s drop in group and she brought all the equipment for us to play Bingo – the kids LOVED it! We had small prizes for the winners and enough extra prizes so that everyone got at least one prize. With tons of sloppy joes, chips and cookies – it was a great evening (plus I ended up bringing home extra sloppy joe fixin’s so that I don’t have to make dinner tonight!).

When I got up this morning it was (and had been) snowing; it looked rather light but turns out it was packing snow. We have about 2 inches of heavy snow on the ground and it keeps coming down, lightly. The roads are all clear, so driving was not a problem (another YAY!).

Down to 4 more all red knit squares to complete John’s afghan ‘top & bottom’ border, then it’s sew them in and crochet a border around the whole afghan then I’m DONE!!!

On another ‘strange’ note- it seems my yahoo email account got hacked and lots of my friends have (and still are) receiving rather horrible emails supposedly sent from me. Not a fun thing; husband looked it over and thought he had cleared it all. This morning when I turned on my computer and got my emails there were at least 25 ‘failure notices’ from more emails that were NOT sent – thank heavens! I’m thinking of closing down that email account and starting over – who needs their reputations ruined over something like that!? (I’m grateful my friends KNOW that I would not be sending emails about multi-sex/gay/bisexual/ or money scheme things!) Just when you think life is getting a little easier – sigh.

It’s a balmy 19 degrees F. here with sunshine; a far cry from last night when it was down to 7 and snowing. Thankfully, it only did about an inch of light, fluffy snow – made the roads slippery, but the sun is clearing that up as we speak. If we ‘have’ to have winter, I’d much rather it be with clear roads and little snow; I don’t really like the super cold weather, but it’s better than worrying about being able to drive 2 miles without sliding off the roads or hitting another car/person. (Sorry-I’ll stop ranting now . . . ).

Youngest son is off to another color guard competition today, middle son is with one of his clients; my husband and I are peacefully enjoying lovely hot cups of Tim Horton’s coffee (YUMMMM!) Love that stuff – just strong enough to really wake you up but mellow enough to not ‘slap you in the face’ when it’s doing it’s waking up bit. Finally finished the last knit square for John’s afghan and have sewn together the first two rows of a total of 7 rows. The actual sewn together squares measure 49″ x49″, so I’m thinking of checking out a (kind of close) ACO hardware store (I know – this sounds weird, but bear with me. . . ) to see if they have any of the (once upon a time advertized) big skeins of red & green mixed yarn. I saw it in a photo in one of their flyers a few weeks ago and stopped at the one close to us – they didn’t have the red/green mixed skeins – am going to stop after church tomorrow and see if the one out by our church carries them – hope so. I think it would really tie together the entire afghan if the border was red (solid) then the red/green mix, then another row of just red; we’ll see.

After almost a week of procrastinating about whether I was going to make Enchiladas or Lasagna for dinner, I finally ‘caved’ after going to the grocery store and made the White Bean Chicken Soup – it was really tasty (a bit more spicy than I usually make, but still good) – there’s a very tiny bowl leftover. Tonight is going to be THE LASAGNA – FINALLY! Speaking of food – here’s your recipes:

Place all ingredients, except milk,
into crockpot. Cover & cook on low
10-12 hours, or High 3-4 hours.
During last hour of cooking stir
in evap. milk. Before serving,
you can puree soup in a blender
or food processor, if desired.
Garnish with optional garnishes.

Woo-eee, it’s certainly WINTER around here today! Looked out the window and saw that we had a bit of snowfall last night – no big deal, thinking “I’m not going anywhere today until around 3:30 p.m., so I’m good” – WRONG! Sent two text messages to youngest son (in school) to remind him to turn in a form, then thought it funny he didn’t respond. Also noticed his two heavy winter coats were still on the chair, but sometimes he just decides to not wear outer garments – who knows why, (he’s too tall & large for me to argue with about it). A few minutes later I was about to turn around in the living room and almost walked into his chest – hearing: “Were you guys NOT going to wake me up for school, or what?” (he sleeps upstairs, so we never noticed he ‘wasn’t’ at school – except for the above mentioned items). Guess who decided to get dressed & drive him? Me, of course. By the time we got on our way it was snowing to beat the band – fine, sometimes a little heavier, but definitely SLIPPERY! People were driving 28 MPH in a 40 MPH zone, just to avoid slipping off the road. Dropped him off, stopped at the bank (the teller asked me WHY was I out in this weather?), then to the grocery store & drug store (might as well get the things done I needed, even with the snow). By the time I came out of the grocery store it had stopped snowing! YAY! (All the while I was in the grocery store I kept thinking: “Shop FASTER! It’s coming down in buckets!”) I’m home now, groceries unloaded and put away, a load of laundry in the washer and I’m here with you. Next time I have to go outside will be the above mentioned 3:30 to pick up son from school, then around 4-something we get our grandson for the evening.

I’ve been tossing around various ideas for dinner – a few nights ago I was going to make Enchiladas, but the guys decided they didn’t really want that. Then came my idea for Lasagna – nope on that one, too. (Let’s just say – I decided that if they really didn’t want me to cook – I wouldn’t!) Two days later I’ve decided to make a pot of the White Bean Chicken Chili (recipe is in another of my blogs). It’s not my recipe and, to me, it’s more like soup than chili (my chili you can stand a wooden spoon up in and it won’t fall – it’s that thick). Really easy recipe: white Northern or navy beans, can of black beans, some cooked chicken, some salsa, big can of chicken broth – you’re done. I buy the medium heat salsa for a kick, the already cooked Fajita strips from Gordon Foods (I guess Costco or Sam’s Club carry them, too). I like the ease of putting it together and the flavor of it, altogether – real comfort food!

Let’s see – I’m down to 4 more knit (red) squares on John’s afghan, then just sewing it together and crocheting a border. I’m glad it’s getting towards the ‘finish line’ for this one; think next I’ll start knitting some dishcloths for the Historical Society for their summer Log Cabin Days event. The president of that group had a great idea to package the dishcloths in those clear plastic tubs/boxes you get little tomatoes in (or strawberries) – they look really cute, so I’m saving up the boxes (so far I have 2 – I’m not a really BIG cotton knitter, don’t really like the feel of knitting with it, but I’ve accumulated about 6-7 skeins/balls, so it’s time to get them out of here!)

Ah, food – here are some really yummy-sounding recipes (I was looking on-line last night and drooling – too late at night to start cooking but I was surely tempted!)

I almost forgot to mention – our knit group met at Panera Bread again this past Tuesday and this time, they were giving out samples of their breakfast quiches – Spinach & Ham or Spinach & Artichoke. I tried the Spin. & Artichoke one and it was totally YUMMY! Cheesy, creamy – nice flaky bottom crust – in fact, it was SO GOOD that I told the manager I wanted one to buy right then. The girl demoing them said: “We don’t sell them in the evening, these were just leftover and the manager said to use them as samples”. Sometimes it pays to be friendly with the manager – he heard me, said: “Just a minute” went in the back, returned and said: “I have 2 left – which one do you want – ham or artichoke?” I told the girl to charge me for it, as I’m sure she was thinking ‘free sample’, so I happily bought it ($3.69) and VERY HAPPILY ate it! If there had been more of that kind, I think I just might have been super temped to go buy another one – they were THAT good! They told me they only sell them until 10 a.m.; since I’m usually NOT at Panera during the day, that sort of didn’t help but I sure have developed a craving for them! Just sayin’ – they were WONDERFUL! (good thing I don’t work there-I’d weigh a whole lot more!)

Well, friends, that’s what’s happening around here – I’m guessing we got about 1 1/2 inches of snow this morning (I can hear the snow plows out clearing the roads right now). For Michigan at this time of year, that’s nothing unusual – the trick is to NOT have to go out in a snow (storm) – stay home, nice & warm, sipping something creamy (like cocoa) and reading a good book!

Well, we’re back at Saturday again – not much to ‘report’ – we did get some snow, but only a brief dusting (so far) – YAY! The weather people were predicting something like 3-4 inches, so just getting a light powdered sugar coating was great for me – you can drive, walk, etc. and not worry about getting stuck or sliding off the road. It’s a ‘balmy’ 18 degrees F. outside. Today the house is rather quiet (yay!) – youngest son is at an all-day winter guard competition some 3 hours away; it’s their first competition of the year (for Winter Guard). I guess I should explain – he belongs to two ‘guard’ groups: one is in the beginning of the school year up to Christmas (Color Guard) – they perform with the marching band. After Christmas he goes into Winter Guard – they are a separate performance group which only does competitions. His winter guard group this year has 16 people (14 girls, 2 guys) and their theme this time is “Summer Time” (with the old Summer Time music as their background, only rather jazzy). I haven’t, as yet, seen any of this year’s routine, but I’m sure after today’s competition there will be videos of the competition on YouTube.

Middle son is home playing a video game “Dark Souls” – guess it’s another first person action/fantasy game set sort of in medieval times – the boys love those themes where you have a ‘quest’ and have to slay dragons and other ‘nasties’ to get to your goal. Husband is on his computer playing his favorite: World of Warcraft. I just finished perusing Craftsy – it’s a new free site for people who love all things ‘crafty’ – where you can post your photos of things you created (there are some patterns, but most are not free). You can get some good project ideas by just looking at what other people have made. Worked on more of “John’s Afghan” squares last night – think there’s something like 13 left to make, then finish it off. Think my next project after that will be knitting some dishcloths for the Historical Society for their Log Cabin Days event in June; that gives me enough time to just leisurely knit them and not feel obligated to do a bunch in a hurry.

Preheat oven 400 degrees F.
Place soy sauce in a 13 x 9-inch baking dish.
On a piece of wax paper, mix together
sesame seeds, flour, salt & pepper. Dip
chicken pieces in soy sauce to coat, then
dredge in sesame seed mixture. Arrange
in baking dish in a single layer, then drizzle
with melted butter.
Bake for approximately 30 to 40 minutes,
or until chicken is cooked through and
tender and juices run clear. Baste with
drippings once during cooking time.
Garnish with extra sesame seeds if
desired, and serve.
(recipe: Peg-Marys Recipe Exchange)
————————————Beef & Cabbage Stir Fry w/Peanut Sauce

Today’s Tuesday and I’m feeling a little stronger every day – that’s a GREAT thing! Yesterday found me deciding to get rid of our old ‘House Bills Book’ and creating a new one, complete with folders, tabs, titles, etc.! Took about 1 1/2 hours, but I’m happy with the results – even made a page with all the information on each company – Tab: “Insurances” – then a list of each company, their address and phone number plus our policy numbers – just in case . . . Since my husband will soon be joining me in the “60’s” category (his birthday is Jan 23rd), I felt it would be helpful to have all that information in ONE PLACE. Took awhile to gather all the information on each separate one, but I’m happy with the results; now there, in one place, is all the information for Eye Care, Dental, Car Insurance, House Insurance, Medical, Life Insurance and Investments.

Today was another ‘burst of energy’ so I went through all my kitchen cupboards and refrigerators, tossing ‘old’ stuff or things I’ll probably never use (like that half package of Filo Dough from last New Years) – something tells me I won’t be having a sudden urge to make Tiropita (Greek Appetizer made with filo). After getting an idea of what we ‘have’ and what we ‘need’, I then made a detailed list for the grocery store, rested a little bit, then charged to Kroger’s. Happy with my purchases (I even passed up a sale on REALLY BIG turkeys at 69 cents a pound). As I was going down the pop isle I had a sudden thought: A few weeks ago I wouldn’t have felt THIS GOOD or been able to do the things I’ve done today – I would just have been too fatigued. Thank you, LORD for restoring my health and energy! (Even stopped at Tim Horton’s for coffee for my husband & I – it’s a little ‘treat’ we both love). Now our ‘larder’ is filled with things to make and eat soon, like Spaghetti & meatballs w/garlic bread; Pierogies & sausages; Enchiladas; a Pork Roast and other goodies. It also occurred to me – I’m cooking more. I know my guys ‘survived’ while I was sick but I really can’t say on ‘what’ – I’m guessing they’re also happy I’m feeling better!

Plants – today I had to relegate (what was once) a fern to the garbage. I’m definitely NOT a plant person; this was a Mother’s Day gift from my grandson & his Mom. When I received it I hung it outside on a shepherd’s crook and it did great all summer! When the weather got colder, I brought it inside and ‘attempted’ to keep it going – let’s just say it didn’t have a very promising future. Just before Christmas I took the fern and it’s ‘friend’, a wandering Jew plant which was also a gift from a friend, stripped off all their old leaves & stems/branches (whatever you call them on a fern), gave them some plant food and a warning: “OK, it’s sink or swim for both of you – if you don’t start perking up soon it’s the garbage for you.” Today I gave the wandering Jew another warning – “You’re next – if you don’t start looking healthier – it’s ‘The Way of the Fern’ with you!” (I’m a stern taskmaster – these plants better just listen . . . or else!) The only other plants in my house are a Birdsnest Sansiveria (those short plants that are relatives of the Mother-in-Law’s Tongue) and a miniature umbrella plant. Mine is a left-over from my mother-in-law’s funeral – that would be 1993. It was originally in a large round table planter and somehow, I’ve managed to keep it alive (not by MY ‘green thumb’, for sure!) I’ve learned, through the years, that both the Birdsnest and the Umbrella plant only like water once a week and then, sparingly. Look out any other plant given into my possession; one of my nicknames should be: “She Who Kills Most Plants”!

Still plugging along on John’s afghan squares – just a little over half done with them (aiming for a total of 49). I’m learning that if I find a simple pattern, I’ll knit around 2 green & 2 red squares in that pattern – saves me constantly looking up more patterns and it goes quicker.

Last night I did something I rarely do – (at least since my cancer, anyway) I stayed up until 2:30 a.m. finishing a book. Haven’t read many books lately and decided to check up (on line, using our library’s site) on a favorite auther: Steve Berry. He writes mostly historical fiction with a murder-type twist. This one was a little slow in starting but quickly picked up the pace and had me enthralled. He wrote this one last year (2011): “The Jefferson Key” – I’d recommend it and all of his books, for that matter.

Well, yesterday I taught my 5 yr old grandson how to play double twelve DOMINOES! I should start by saying that I saw a “Cars” (movie) set of children’s dominoes at the local drug store and bought it for him; we tried playing – it was too simple, too boring sooooooooo – Grandma brought out the ‘big kids set’! As you can see, he loved it; in fact, he beat me by ONE domino! (I thought I took the ‘winning’ photo, but guess not – this was about 3/4ths through the game. His dad told me that his kindergarten teacher has already had to bring out all the first grade work, as he’s finished all he’s supposed to learn in kindergarten! (He’s very much like his dad was at that age – 5 going on 45). I can see many exciting games of dominoes in our future.

Today found me going to Kohl’s with my husband. At Christmas he was disappointed at not being able to find anything he thought I would like clothing-wise, so I suggested we wait until after the holidays and then go shopping. Since he’s mostly been a home-body since his retirement last January, it wore him out a bit but we found two nice tops for me. I also dragged him to the local Salvation Army store (it’s about 20 min. away and I rarely go there). Our oldest son loves that store so we gave it a try. I like shopping for clothing, but I’m not much for having to go through racks & racks of clothing which is sorted by COLOR, then gradiently by size. I gave up after about a half-rack of all blue sweaters & blouses. Yes, they probably have good bargains, but I just didn’t have the fortitude to endure that kind of amusement – instead we tried out the new Sonic drive through eatery. My husband ordered us both double cheeseburgers & fries – turns out they make a VERY BIG double cheeseburger (I saved half for my breakfast tomorrow!); ditto on the fries. I’m attempting to start to lose a bit of weight gained from the holidays and am doing OK – slowly – had gotten up to around 184 and am now down to 178 – without exercise. I kind of mentioned to my husband (seeing that he was a bit undone with all the walking) if we might (once again – suggested before the holidays, too) attempt to join Planet Fitness? I got a kind of non-plused response – we’ll see where this goes. (I’m, again, thinking ahead to the very near future when the doctors will put me on ‘the pill’- (Arimidex); it’s a extrogen preventative – I’ll be on it for 5 years and some of the side effects are a return to MENOPAUSE symptoms – mood swings, hot flashes, sort of a foggy mind, all those wonderful things you really don’t want – OH! AND WEIGHT GAIN! (now do you see where I’m going with the ‘trying to keep my weight down’ idea? We’ll see – it seems my husband was very informative about the cut off date for the ‘sale’ at Planet Fitness – until January 14th (I think) they have a special where it’s $10.00 to join and $10 a month, per person. I’m only interested in using the treadmill, so we’ll see . . .

Now that I’m feeling better, things are slowly getting done around here. I discovered the other day that our front door ‘sign’ needed painting and the window in the front door needed washing. (We don’t use our front door and it has a sign which reads: “Please use other door” and a small arrow.) Got all that done today after we got home and ate our huge lunch. Started another chemo cap, worked on a few ‘Grandma’s Favorite’pattern knit squares for John’s afghan and now I’m here with you. Makes me feel good to know that I’m slowly getting my energy back and getting other little projects finished which would have been just ignored a month ago. (Still have the Christmas stuff to put away – that’s on the docket for tomorrow – oh, goody . . . ).

Today has been a gorgeous day out – sunshine and FIFTY-TWO degrees!We wore Spring jackets to go shopping! Our middle son noticed, a few days ago, one of our two rabbits are still in the backyard! We have a lot of wild blackberry bushes growing and it seems he’s made his home amoung them. (Of course, we’re not sure if it’s a ‘he’ or a ‘she’ but I can identify it’s the one with the injured left back leg – I noticed him during the summer.) We had two rabbits which kind of hung around together and one had the bad back leg. He can still hop pretty good, but sort of drags that leg if he’s hopping slow. Middle son decided that it’s going to be his ‘project’ to help this rabbit get through the winter by leaving carrots out for the rabbit; we’ll see. Hope he doesn’t mind refrigerated carrots – but then, what do you get if you toss carrots outside when the normal temperatures for this time of year are in the 30’s?

Here we are into the second day of the new year; where are you, at this time? Today found me doing a bit of catching up on lists I thought I’d typed, printed & stored (Knit Group/Special Needs Group), cutting coupons for this week’s shopping trip, clearing out the kitchen of accumulated mails (flyers/coupons/notes to myself, etc.). The kitchen looks much neater, my notebooks for both groups are now ‘up to date’ (YAY!), lists typed, printed, AND stored on Publisher (thought I’d done that a few weeks ago!). Tonight will be homemade Potato Soup – warm, fills the tummy and gets rid of the last of the 10 lb. of potatoes I bought for Christmas dinner and some of the ham, too! My guys were commenting yesterday about how they can tell I’m feeling much better: I’m cooking more! We had a whole chicken in the crockpot, noodles and veggies for dinner last night (with a little saved for another meal).

Recipes, you ask? Well, just ran into several different soup recipes I’d saved out for you – here they are:

Preheat oven 425 degrees F.
In 5-6 qt. pan over high heat, stir
turkey, onion, garlic, oregano and
cumin in oil until turkey is crumbly
and no longer pink, about 4 min.
Stir in 1 C. enchilada sauce; add
salt to taste. Cut tortillas in
half. Arrange 1/4 of tortilla halves
evenly over bottom of a shallow
3 qt. casserole dish, overlapping
to fit. Sprinkle 1/4 of cheese evenly
over tortillas, then top with 1/4 of
turkey mixture and 1/4 of remaining
enchilada sauce, spreading each
level. Repeat to make two more
layers of tortillas, cheese, turkey
mixture and sauce; top with
another layer of tortillas and
sauce, then cheese. Bake 18-20
minutes, until cheese is melted and
casserole is hot in center. Sprinkle
with chopped cilantro before
serving. Makes 10 servings.
(recipe: RDJ 10/02/11)